MAYPORT, Fla. – Naval Station Mayport is taking new steps to offer sexual assault and misconduct survivors support.
Administrators at the base recently signed a sexual assault prevention proclamation in hopes of encouraging sailors to come forward if they were victimized.
It comes as we learn more about national cases within the U.S. military.
April is Sexual Assault Awareness month and leaders at Naval Station Mayport want the men and women of the military to know that resources are available. Victim advocates said new procedures have also been approved to give sexual assault victims more rights than ever before.
″I hope people come forward to get the services they need and don’t suffer in silence, because it can be very draining,” said Donna Johnson, Uniformed Victim Advocate
Donna Johnson is on the front lines of a different war, aimed at erasing the stigmas and fears surrounding reporting sexual assault at Naval Station Mayport. She’s the first person men and women in the military come in contact with at the base. She said this proclamation is intended to let sexual assault victims know that they can come forward without the fear of any retribution.
“They may get in trouble, the person may be a higher rank, they don’t feel like they will be believed, they don’t think anything will be done about it, there are multiple reasons why people don’t come forward,” she said.
According to a report released by the Pentagon, sexual assault in the military is on the rise in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
Advocates on the base at Mayport want victims to know they’ve put new measures in place to give them more rights when reporting a sexual assault.
“Before there were only unrestricted reports, now they are restricted, so they can keep the need to know down to a minimum,” said Civilian Victim Advocate Todd Wright.
Wright said the victim is in complete control of what they want to do after being assaulted, saying restricted reports give them more power even if someone in the chain of command knows about the assault.
“We’re just wanting to let them know, it does happen, it was not your fault, and we’ll provide as many resources as we can to get your back to yourself,” Wright said.
Wright said he believes more sexual assaults are being reported in the military because the stigmas surrounding sexual assault victims in the military are slowly being erased.
“Please come see us. We want to make sure you’re in a safe place. If you need a military or civilian protection order we can give you instructions on that, and we want to make sure you don’t want to harm yourself or others,” Wright said.
News4JAX spoke by phone with a woman who was sexually assaulted on Naval Station Mayport.
She said people feel as if they can’t talk about the things that hurt them.
She said more still needs to be done to address the culture of silence in the military.